THE KING’S BUSINESS
24$
L esson IX— J une 1, 1913. Golden Text,—James 5 :16.
prayers of others. People can pray for us more intelligently if they know our weak nesses and failures. Judah’s confession pre pared the way for Joseph to deal with them as only a forgiving brother could do, and the confession of our sins to God enables Him to be faithful and just in forgiving our sins and cleansing us from all un righteousness. The picture before us is of intensest interest. The ruler of Egypt stands in the presence of the eleven sons of Jacob, who with bowed heads await the verdict. The silver cup found in the sack of Benjamin is the witness against them. Joseph is moved in his inmost soul and caused the room to be cleared, when alone with his brethren he made himself known to them. I am Joseph.” No doubt the words fell .as the verdict of the jury falls upon the condemned criminal. Twenty years have matured them all, some of them are old men. Joseph’s voice is full of tenderness, his eyes are filled with tears of gratitude. What a wonderful prophecy is this of the future! So Jesus must have stood before Saul of Tarsus when on the Damascus road He made Himself known. “I am Jesus whom thou persecutes!,” and the tender voice of Christ breaks the heart of the evangelist of error and brings him contrite down at the feet of his Lord. So also will it be with the Jews in the latter days, for the conversion of Saul is a prophecy of Israel’s conversion. They sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver, thinking to rid them selves forever of Him. They will one day see Him Whom they have pierced, but He will be on the throne with His gentile bride. They will then acknowledge their sins and accept Him as their King and He will become their benefactor. “Come near to me.” Joseph had already cleared the room so that he was alone with his brethren; he did not want strangers to know the sad story of his life, nor of the wrongs committed against him by his breth- L esson X— J une 8, 1913. Golden Text,—Psalm 133:1.
Joseph’s method of testing his brethren will not approve itself to us while we view Joseph’s actions in .the light of the age in which he lived. We know that a lie has always been a lie and has always been from Satan. Joseph played a part. He sought to find out by strategy whether his brethren had changed for the better, wheth er they would be willing to abandon Ben jamin as they had him and whether they would go back to Jacob, their father, and deceive him as they had once before. Float ing straws show which way the tide flows, and Joseph succeeded in wringing from the guilty conscience of Judah the humiliating confession, “God has found out the in iquity of thy servants.’’ God always knew it, but He is now bringing it into the light so that Judah and his brothers may look upon it together, as they had unitedly sin ned. There is an awful terror in sin. Sin that is hidden away eats like a canker. He that covereth his sins shall not pros per, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have merey” (Prov. 28:13). An unconfessed sin drags like a weight upon the soul. A man recently surrendered to the au thorities and confessed to a crime com mitted twenty years ago. As soon as the confession was made he said, “I feel bet ter now and am ready for any punishment.” We should have meetings where opportun ity is given for the confession of failures and faults. Some sins need to be con fessed to God: others of a public character demand a public confession. Some remark able meetings have been held in connec tion with all-night prayer meetings in which ministers and Christian laymen have opened their hearts and bared their sins of pride, ambition, jealousy, love of ease, greed of gain, etc., and have gone away refreshed in body and filled with the Spirit of power for a life of service. Confession clears the spiritual atmosphere and gives place for the incoming of the life of God. Confession humbles us and excites the sympathy and
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